fordsflyow
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Replaced HD with SDD, back to flashing question mark.

I don't what has happened to this site but had a heck of a time accessing my AppleID account and ended up creating another.  sheesh.  Anyway I posted a question within the past week about installing a SSD.  Went fine.  Did a clean install of El Capitan and all was going great for a day or two.  Problems started from waking after long sleep.  Restart to flashing question mark or grey screen.  Rebooted with option and SSD showed up, chose it and rebooted fine.  Thought fix was selecting startup disk in System Prefs.  Worked fine for a day or two after.  Now I get the dreaded circle slash after about halfway through reboot loading.  Reset PRAM. Restarted using Option now into Internet recovery after SSD does not appear.  Any ideas?  Thanks

 

Late 2013 Macbook Pro OSX 10.11.3

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)

Posted on Feb 24, 2016 4:21 AM

by Grant Bennet-Alder,Apple recommended
Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder
Level 9 (61,033 points)
Desktops
A:

If you turned on TRIM with the TRIMforce command in Terminal, restarting in Safe mode is a great idea.

 

Safe mode runs one pass of the equivalent of Disk First Aid, including the "Trimming unused blocks" portion (this may add several more minutes to the time it takes). This will will help your SSD get rid of a whole lot of deleted data blocks.

 

If you cannot get this to go because the SSD refuses to appear, you can try holding down Alt/Option at startup, and then leaving it alone for about a half hour. This allows time for the SSD to notice it is not being used, and do an internal garbage collect cycle. At next startup, it may appear again.

Posted on Mar 2, 2016 6:41 PM

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fordsflyow

Q: Replaced HD with SDD, back to flashing question mark.

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  • by Drew Reece,Apple recommended

    Drew Reece Drew Reece Mar 2, 2016 4:55 PM in response to Fordsflylow
    Level 5 (7,559 points)
    Notebooks
    Mar 2, 2016 4:55 PM in response to Fordsflylow

    Hardware test won't test the state of the OS on disk. It tries to confirm that the hardware is working as intended.

     

    The question mark at startup is a sign that the a valid startup disk is not found - potentially a software issue (or corrupt/ failing disk etc).

    I'd make a bootable clone when it is working. Keep that clone safe for when it fails - then try booting from the clone (select it by holding option at startup).

     

    You can also try safe mode as I linked earlier.

    Single user mode or verbose may output info but I doubt it is getting that far into the boot process…

    How to start up your Mac in single-user or verbose mode - Apple Support

    Try them when it fails to boot.

     

    Let us know if Disk Utility is reporting errors when you boot to recovery & repair the internal disk. If you have errors it could indicate it is time to replace the disk.


    If this is too much testing, I'd book a genius bar appointment. They may be able to help or offer advice.

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,Apple recommended

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Mar 2, 2016 6:41 PM in response to Fordsflylow
    Level 9 (61,033 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 2, 2016 6:41 PM in response to Fordsflylow

    If you turned on TRIM with the TRIMforce command in Terminal, restarting in Safe mode is a great idea.

     

    Safe mode runs one pass of the equivalent of Disk First Aid, including the "Trimming unused blocks" portion (this may add several more minutes to the time it takes). This will will help your SSD get rid of a whole lot of deleted data blocks.

     

    If you cannot get this to go because the SSD refuses to appear, you can try holding down Alt/Option at startup, and then leaving it alone for about a half hour. This allows time for the SSD to notice it is not being used, and do an internal garbage collect cycle. At next startup, it may appear again.

  • by Fordsflylow,

    Fordsflylow Fordsflylow Mar 3, 2016 3:25 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 3, 2016 3:25 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    I did the safe mode startup and so far so good.  Thanks.

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